What are the effects of PCOS?
Although PCOS can cause difficulty getting pregnant, its effects go far beyond fertility. A few good examples of these far-reaching effects include hirsutism (hair growth), insulin resistance, heart disease risk factors and even uterine cancer. This list is far from complete, but we can review these few examples here in order to give you some idea of the importance of seeking treatment for PCOS long before you desire pregnancy. Hirsutism is the excess growth of coarse dark hair in a predominantly male pattern. Women affected by PCOS commonly experience hirsutism due to increased levels of the male hormones called androgens. The longer a women with PCOS goes untreated the more severe her hirsutism will become. Insulin resistance is a condition common to PCOS in which the tissues of the body become less responsive to the hormone insulin. If left untreated, the body may become so unresponsive to insulin that it develops a type of diabetes. If diagnosed appropriately, there are treatments
